Unmasking Government Schools with Sheri Few

The Red-Pilled Mary Poppins: Raising Kids Who Think for Themselves Can children’s books help raise a generation of independent thinkers? What if the stories we read to our children could equip them to recognize manipulation, question conformity, and stand courageously for what they believe? In this episode of Unmasking Government Schools, Sheri Few interviews Julie Lavender Le Doux, award-winning children’s author, homeschooling mother, and creator of The Amazing Series. Known as the “Red-Pilled Mary Poppins,” Julie uses imaginative storytelling, humor, and adventure to introduce children to challenging ideas about freedom, truth, faith, and independent thinking. In this interview, you will learn: ✔ Why Julie created The Amazing Series in response to the cultural upheaval of recent years. ✔ How her fictional world of Greystone Heights uses color, imagination, and a mysterious “Prescribed Order” to explore conformity and individual freedom. ✔ Why Julie believes compelling stories can help children develop courage, resilience, and critical thinking. ✔ How homeschooling and multigenerational learning can encourage curiosity and independent thought. ✔ Why Julie and Sheri are concerned about the decline of classic literature and the growing influence of screens in children’s lives. ✔ How Julie incorporates biblical principles into stories designed to appeal to families from different backgrounds. ✔ Why reading aloud together, even for 15 minutes a day, is one of Julie’s favorite ways to reconnect families through literature. Julie also discusses the inspiration behind her books, the importance of distinguishing personal experiences from objective truth, and why she believes children need stories that challenge their minds while nourishing their imaginations. Are we raising children to think independently, or simply teaching them to conform? Julie believes that stories filled with truth, beauty, and wonder can help families cultivate a different kind of education. Explore Julie’s books and resources: julielavender.com The Amazing Series is primarily intended for ages 10–14. Julie also offers study guides and audiobooks to encourage family reading and discussion. 👉 Please hit the subscribe button so you never miss an interview. 👉 Visit uspie.org to join the movement to return education to local control.

Should parents have to undergo government screening before they can educate their own children? Connecticut’s controversial new homeschooling law has ignited a battle over parental rights, government oversight, and the meaning of educational freedom. In this episode of Unmasking Government Schools, host Sheri Few interviews Diane Connors, president of the Connecticut Homeschool Network, and attorney Deborah Stevenson, founder of National Home Education Legal Defense. Together, they examine Connecticut’s newly enacted homeschooling restrictions, the organizations behind the legislation, and what these developments could mean for families nationwide. In this interview, you will learn: Why Connecticut, once considered one of the nation’s least restrictive states for homeschooling, adopted new reporting and screening requirements. How the new law introduces annual education declarations and child welfare records checks for families withdrawing children from government schools. What Diane and Deborah say they uncovered through Freedom of Information Act requests, including multiple drafts of legislation developed before public hearings. The role of the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE) in advocating for increased government oversight of homeschooling. Why the guests question the use of tragic child abuse cases to justify broader restrictions on homeschooling families. How concerns about abuse, neglect, and failures within Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families factor into the controversy. Why Diane and Deborah believe these developments represent a growing national challenge to parental authority and educational freedom. Supporters of the legislation argue that additional oversight will help protect vulnerable children. Diane and Deborah challenge that rationale, questioning whether government intervention addresses the underlying failures of child protection agencies or unnecessarily restricts responsible homeschooling families. Learn more about our guests: Diane Connors, Connecticut Homeschool Network: ⁠cthomeschoolnetwork.org Deborah Stevenson, National Home Education Legal Defense: ⁠nheld.us 👉 Please hit the subscribe button so you never miss an interview. 👉 Visit ⁠USPIE.org to join the movement to return education to local control.

School Choice Showdown: Does Government Funding Set Families Free or Invite More Control? Can government-funded school choice rescue children from failing government schools, or does taking government money ultimately give government more power over private schools and homeschool families? In this episode of Unmasking Government Schools, host Sheri Few sits down with Dr. Keri Ingraham, Director of the American Center for Transforming Education at the Discovery Institute, for a spirited discussion about education freedom, the explosive growth of alternatives to traditional schools, and one major issue where they disagree: government-funded school choice. In this interview, you will learn: • Why microschools, hybrid schools, and other innovative education models have surged since 2020, and why millions of families are looking beyond traditional government schools • Why Dr. Ingraham believes ESAs, scholarships, and other school-choice programs are essential to helping lower- and middle-income families escape government schools • Why Sheri and USPIE warn that government funding can bring increased regulation and potentially threaten the independence of private schools and home education • How Dr. Ingraham responds to that concern, and why she argues that funding parents rather than schools does not automatically bring greater government control • Where Sheri and Dr. Ingraham disagree over efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and move federal education programs into other agencies • Why both agree that parents must regain greater authority over their children’s education, even while debating the best way to make that happen It’s a substantive debate over a question that could shape the future of education freedom in America: Can families take government education dollars without eventually taking government strings? 👉 Please hit the subscribe button so you never miss an interview. 👉 Visit USPIE.org to join the movement to return education to local control.

What happens when normal childhood behavior becomes a diagnosis, a diagnosis becomes a prescription, and parents are told that saying "no" is no longer an option? There is no blood test, no brain scan, and no X-ray that can confirm ADHD. Yet millions of children are placed on psychiatric drugs that carry black-box warnings for suicide and violence. Join host Sheri Few and Sheila Matthews, co-founder of AbleChild, on Unmasking Government Schools as they expose the billion-dollar behavioral health industry's push to label, drug, and control children, from subjective ADHD checklists to the devastating consequences of psychiatric drugs in schools, courts, and communities. In this must-watch episode, you'll learn: 1. Why ADHD is entirely subjective—diagnosed by checklist, not medicine -- and how ordinary behaviors like "climbing on furniture" or "losing focus" qualify as symptoms! The dangerous new PR campaign rebranding ADHD as a "superpower" for women, and why it's really a push to get more adults onto mind-altering drugs! The landmark Tennessee law requiring toxicology testing for therapeutic levels of psychiatric drugs in mass shooters and why other states are fighting it. The Lindsay Clancy case: how a psychiatrist prescribed powerful drugs via telehealth without ruling out basic medical causes like thyroid function or postpartum factors. 2. How the behavioral health industry hides behind HIPAA, shields itself from accountability, and demands more funding every time its outcomes turn deadlyWhy 94% of California students now report depression and how subjective school surveys are being used to justify expanded mental health services 3. What every parent must know: the Hatch Amendment to opt out of psychological services, the importance of tutoring over psychiatric labels, and why blood work should come before prescriptions If you believe parents deserve real informed consent, not a one-way path to psychiatric drugs, this episode is for you. 👉 Subscribe, share, and join the movement to restore parental rights! 🔗 Learn more: ⁠https://uspie.org⁠🔗 Follow US Parents Involved in Education on YouTube, Facebook & X

Should Christian parents keep their kids in government schools — or is it time to exit the system entirely? In this episode of Unmasking Government Schools, host Sheri Few interviews Dran Reese, founder and president of the Salt & Light Council and CEO of Public School Exit, about why she believes the church has failed its children by abandoning education to the state — and what families can do to take it back. In this interview, you will learn: • Why Dran calls government schools "welfare government systems" designed for control, not education • How Public School Exit equips families with practical alternatives — including homeschooling, co-ops, and church-based models • Why only 12% of youth pastors hold a biblical worldview — and what that means for your children • How the Salt & Light Council trains churches to engage culture and government as a mission field • Why pastors who send their own kids to government schools are missing the Great Commission • What a successful exit looks like, including legal steps, curriculum options, and how single-parent families can make it work • Why Dran believes this movement could reshape America in just one or two generations Learn more and find resources at ⁠saltandlightcouncil.org⁠ and ⁠publicschoolexit.org⁠. 👉 Please hit the subscribe button so you never miss an interview. 👉 Visit ⁠uspie.org⁠ to join the movement to return education to local control.